Castellemare? Why?”
“Because, my friend, it amuses me. Whereas I could have stayed mired in these terribly maddening questions of the infinite like yourself and feel that there is no point to production of any text, I have learned the hardest lesson: the need and importance of play. What can one do in the face of such an impossible infinity but laugh and find ways to tweak it, to have some degree of mastery? I restore control over the endless flux by following a deviant logic. To the domain of order I introduce the clinamen of chaos. Oh, it isn’t enough to collapse order, but I put it through its paces. Of what interest is a logic and a reality that goes untested? Yes, I am playing with Castellemare.”
“Do you think he knows?”
“He must. He can barely keep up with the number of texts that have been displaced. I am sure it gives him a headache. He is desperate for more reliable employees. That desperation makes him seek far and wide and lower the criteria. No offence, but you aren’t his ideal candidate.”
“None taken. I have no basis for comparison beyond Angelo. But don’t you worry that this will increase the chances that one of those dangerous texts may be discovered by those not familiar with the Library? Would that not cause untold chaos?”
“A storm in a teacup. You scholars amuse me, amplifying the importance of your station and that of knowledge. The world will not be thrown on its ear if something is discovered. It may just be perceived as a fraud anyway, or relegated to the pile of so many other unsolved puzzles for the academic to dicker with. Do you really stand by the arrogant assumption that bizarre knowledge and contradiction actually means anything to the world? When two-thirds of the world does not have clean running water, I really don’t think a newly discovered version of Revelations is going to have any impact. At best, it will have people scratching their heads for a little while, and only a small percentage of them at that. The wars, famine, television shows, and the mass production of novelty key chains will continue unaffected. Keep all of this in its proper perspective. Reading is the domain of the shrinking few. You could tell a crowded bus station of people that Hitler died in 1965 in Stockholm after losing the Crimean War and you will barely find a small pocket of people who would disagree. Do you really think a book that would substantiate that view would make much of an impression on those that simply do not know history? And if it were written by some breast-enhanced celebrity, then it would be taken in without question.”
“That’s a pretty cynical view.”
“A dog’s bark is not as real as its bite. I like to think that this is the real view.”
“Then I don’t really understand Castellemare’s desperation.”
“He overworks himself. He makes the fallacious error of illicit importance. He is afflicted with the mania that comes with the position of Librarian. Books have a curious effect on those with certain predispositions to fall into obsession. I know what his affliction truly belies: the absolute meaninglessness of his entire Library. To have everything is to know nothing. Too much information is no information at all. Endless disputes, contradictions, and the like is a kind of truth, but never a solid and singular Truth. For all his infinite books, and mine, there may as well just be one: it is all chimera. The Truth is unattainable. It is constructed.”
“Isn’t that a rather nihilistic viewpoint to hold?”
“Submit to the view that truth is attainable and you suffer the worst kind of nihilism. When it comes to light that your found truth is so paltry, arbitrary, an infinitesimal piece of a puzzle of so many truths, and then you realize that your efforts were for naught. Embrace the reality that truth cannot be acquired by one or many hands, and you begin to feel… free, no longer chained to the ballast of a lone ship tossing restlessly upon a
“Because, my friend, it amuses me. Whereas I could have stayed mired in these terribly maddening questions of the infinite like yourself and feel that there is no point to production of any text, I have learned the hardest lesson: the need and importance of play. What can one do in the face of such an impossible infinity but laugh and find ways to tweak it, to have some degree of mastery? I restore control over the endless flux by following a deviant logic. To the domain of order I introduce the clinamen of chaos. Oh, it isn’t enough to collapse order, but I put it through its paces. Of what interest is a logic and a reality that goes untested? Yes, I am playing with Castellemare.”
“Do you think he knows?”
“He must. He can barely keep up with the number of texts that have been displaced. I am sure it gives him a headache. He is desperate for more reliable employees. That desperation makes him seek far and wide and lower the criteria. No offence, but you aren’t his ideal candidate.”
“None taken. I have no basis for comparison beyond Angelo. But don’t you worry that this will increase the chances that one of those dangerous texts may be discovered by those not familiar with the Library? Would that not cause untold chaos?”
“A storm in a teacup. You scholars amuse me, amplifying the importance of your station and that of knowledge. The world will not be thrown on its ear if something is discovered. It may just be perceived as a fraud anyway, or relegated to the pile of so many other unsolved puzzles for the academic to dicker with. Do you really stand by the arrogant assumption that bizarre knowledge and contradiction actually means anything to the world? When two-thirds of the world does not have clean running water, I really don’t think a newly discovered version of Revelations is going to have any impact. At best, it will have people scratching their heads for a little while, and only a small percentage of them at that. The wars, famine, television shows, and the mass production of novelty key chains will continue unaffected. Keep all of this in its proper perspective. Reading is the domain of the shrinking few. You could tell a crowded bus station of people that Hitler died in 1965 in Stockholm after losing the Crimean War and you will barely find a small pocket of people who would disagree. Do you really think a book that would substantiate that view would make much of an impression on those that simply do not know history? And if it were written by some breast-enhanced celebrity, then it would be taken in without question.”
“That’s a pretty cynical view.”
“A dog’s bark is not as real as its bite. I like to think that this is the real view.”
“Then I don’t really understand Castellemare’s desperation.”
“He overworks himself. He makes the fallacious error of illicit importance. He is afflicted with the mania that comes with the position of Librarian. Books have a curious effect on those with certain predispositions to fall into obsession. I know what his affliction truly belies: the absolute meaninglessness of his entire Library. To have everything is to know nothing. Too much information is no information at all. Endless disputes, contradictions, and the like is a kind of truth, but never a solid and singular Truth. For all his infinite books, and mine, there may as well just be one: it is all chimera. The Truth is unattainable. It is constructed.”
“Isn’t that a rather nihilistic viewpoint to hold?”
“Submit to the view that truth is attainable and you suffer the worst kind of nihilism. When it comes to light that your found truth is so paltry, arbitrary, an infinitesimal piece of a puzzle of so many truths, and then you realize that your efforts were for naught. Embrace the reality that truth cannot be acquired by one or many hands, and you begin to feel… free, no longer chained to the ballast of a lone ship tossing restlessly upon a
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